Daily Word

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory- even us whom he called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles. Romans 9: 22-24. The addition of “beforehand” in connection with the vessels of mercy may be pointing to the mercy that originates in God’s good pleasure from eternity, while the wrath in view is in direct response to existing ungodliness and unrighteousness. The distinction between the elect and reprobate does not lie in anything in themselves (all deserve wrath), but exclusively in the will of God. Within that context, however, the objects prepared for destruction experience the wrath that is the only possible and just reward for sin. God created a world in which both His wrath and mercy would be displayed. Indeed, His mercy shines against the back drop of His wrath, showing thereby that the salvation of any person is due to the marvelous grace and love of God. If this is difficult to understand, it is because people mistakenly think God owes them salvation!